Missing - 3 Year Old...Beachfill

Missing: Three to four year-old beachfill.

Missing From: Surf City, NJ.
Missing Since: Winter 2010.
Features: Light, sand-colored
Distinguishing Marks: Unexploded ordnance
Last Seen: Possibly traveling south during one of the many Nor'Easters this winter.
Traveling With: Typically associates with Members of Congress and large amounts of taxpayer money.

If you see this sand, please call the Army Corps at 215-656-6515.

This picture above is not of a badly eroded beach that desperately needs beach replenishment. It is a picture of a beach that was replenished just a short time ago in the winter of 2006-2007 at a cost of roughly $5 Million. They dredged up unexploded ordnance (bombs and fuses) with it, and the cleanup cost about $25 million.
More from the Press of Atlantic City.

Beach Fill: Fleecing of America

An interesting piece on NBC about beach fill (nourishment). Be sure to let the second video load, as it contains some extra raw video from the interviews. I particularly like (or dislike) Harry Simmons' (president of ASBPA)quote: "Retreat is unamerican" apparently he thinks we're at war with the ocean.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

DIY Dunes in Long Beach Township, NJ

Long Beach Township, NJ passed an ordinance recently requiring oceanfront homeowners to repair damaged dunes like these if they are on private oceanfront property. But there is a catch. If you signed the construction easement for the beach replenishment project, the town will fix the dune damage themselves, as they always have.

The unanswered question is will these Do-It-Yourself homeowners have to get permits from the state DEP to legally enter and manipulate the dunes? Oceanfront homeowners typically wait 5 months for a CAFRA permit when doing any work on their homes. The new ordinance says the work needs to be done in 15 days. Hmmm.

Imagine 25 homeowners all hiring different contractors wielding bulldozers in a mad rush to fix their dunes in two weeks. Sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.

More here http://pressofatlanticcity.com/news/press/ocean/article_4cdf75a4-07a4-11df-a7d9-001cc4c002e0.html?mode=story

Beachfill and Eminent Domain - Perfect together

Would you give up this piece of property voluntarily, without compensation?

Things are getting ugly on Long Beach Island New Jersey where in order to do a beach replenishment project, the Army Corps requires a construction easement to do the work. Sounds simple enough, but there are a few catches. The State of NJ has asked all oceanfront property owners on LBI for a permanent easement. This easement would take away ownership, but the homeowner would still have liability and the homeowner would still have to pay taxes on the property. Furthermore, the easement wold be transferable meaning an entity that may not even exist today may someday own this easement (Boardwalk Authority anyone?).

Understandably, a lot of people won't sign these easements. One town, Long Beach Township is taking drastic measures and introducing an ordinance that would take the property via eminent domain. It is all sad and unnecessary considering similar projects in North Carolina asked homeowners for temporary easements.

http://www.app.com/article/20100113/COMMUNITY/1130304/Beach-easement-holdouts-to-pay---one-way-or-the-other

January 13, 2010 Beach easement holdouts to pay — one way or the other By NICHOLAS HUBA Staff Writer LONG BEACH TOWNSHIP — In the continuing fight to acquire the easements needed for the federally-funded beach replenishment project, the township is aiming to make homeowners who have not signed over the easements pay for repairs to the beaches in front of their homes by toughening an existing ordinance adopted in the 1970s. The ordinance calls for all beachfront homeowners to be responsible for the maintenance of the dunes in front of their homes and if not completed within 15 days, the township will do the work and then bill them. "If they are not going to allow the state and Army Corps to have access to the property, then they are not going to allow us," said Mayor Joseph Mancini. "A similar ordinance has been on the books for 39 years and we are now cleaning it up." Mancini said by the not signing over their easement, the homeowner also is denying the township the right to fix any erosion issues that come up. "If they don't sign the easement and their porch is hanging off into the ocean, they have not granted us access to the property and it's their responsibility to get it fixed," Mancini said. The proposed changes to the ordinance come on the heels of the township officials saying they would go as far as using eminent domain to acquire the needed easements. Under the proposed plan, Long Beach Township would get three appraisers to determine the value of a property, and then the township would move on with the eminent domain process from there, Mancini said. He said he hopes to have the ordinance introduced in the coming weeks. The township needs to acquire the easements for the beach replenishment project. The Army Corps of Engineers will not start any work until all of the easements have been signed over. The corps currently is overseeing the project in neighboring Harvey Cedars. The aim of the replenishment project is to increase the size of both the beach and the dunes. Township Attorney Richard Shackleton said the ordinance is similar to one that was adopted in Surf City. "If they are not going to give the Corps access, then they are not giving us access," Shackleton said. A public hearing on the ordinance is scheduled for 4 p.m. Jan. 22 at the municipal building, 6805 Long Beach Blvd.

Sand Bypass Experiment - Sort Of

When we first heard of a plan to dredge sand from the bottom of the Navesink River and put it on the beach in Monmouth Beach, NJ we were skeptical about the quality of the sand. Any time sand is taken from the bottom of a river there should be an abundance of caution. Thankfully there is no industry along this river and no known potential sources of pollution. Still, we think the sand should be tested; it is cheap relative to the cost of the project. On numerous occasions unexpected items have been dredged up. We don’t want those unexpected items to be toxins or harmful bacteria.

Typically, the State or the Army Corps will test the material for its composition and grain size only. They never test for toxins if they find the material to be 90% sand. (No one has ever explained what that other 10% is allowed to be.)

Interestingly, the sand is being brought via pipeline over land to its intended beach. It is very similar to a sand bypass system that we have advocated as an alternative to large beachfill projects for years. In this case a pipeline is takes sand off the river bottom, brings it across the narrow barrier spit of Monmouth Beach, under State Highway 36, and over the seawall. The pipe runs down the seawall to the south and discharges on the ocean side, about midway down the wall.

We have long maintained that a sand bypass system could be a less expensive solution in many areas of the Jersey Shore. Namely, areas where there is an abundance of sand on a wide beach not too far away from an eroded area. The idea is to pump the sand from one to the other as opposed to pumping from

offshore, or from the bottom of a river. Think Sandy Hook; very wide to the north, narrow to the south. Or Long Beach Island where the beaches are a half mile wide in Barnegat Light, and nearby Harvey Cedars has very little beach at all.

Let’s hope this sand bypass-ish experiment works, and we see more of this in the future.